Brief Biography

Stephen Southall

    I grew up on a farm in the eastern part of Virginia in a town named Deltaville.  My first experience with EnglishBoxwoods were the 800 which surrounded the house and gardens.  While growing up, my  favorite thing to do was to work in the fields, driving an Allis-Chalmers WD-45 tractor.   Even today, many years later, working on a tractor is one of my favorite activities.  Upon graduation from Middlesex High School, I attended the University of Richmond.  With a major in Psychology, I  enrolled in graduate school at the University of Virginia and completed my Ph.D. in 1973.  In 1974 I came to my present position teaching in the Psychology Department at Lynchburg College.  My academic position in experimental psychology integrates quite nicely with my interest in growing boxwoods.  Both fields require a knowledge of methodology which allows one to manipulate various factors in order to determine the resulting influence on one or more variables.

Ken Shumaker

    Steve and I had very similar backgrounds while growing up, even though Steve grew up in the flat lands of eastern Virginia and I grew up in the foothills of western North Carolina. Growing up adjacent to our ancestral farm we never derived any income from it, but we raised enough food for the animals and some for ourselves. I was driving a farm tractor by age 10 and always had chores to do while growing up. While raising chickens, even though we were only small time growers, we developed our own home-made automatic feeders which cut down considerably on the labor. This work-ethnic and a strong desire for work efficiency was instilled in me at an early age and continues its influence today as we raise English Boxwoods. Another early influence was the need for an education. My parents had both only finished high school, but there was never any doubt that I would go on to college and have an "easier" life than they had. I entered Appalachian State University with my high school sweetheart, Jean. After graduation we married while I was in graduate school in mathematics. My first and only job was teaching mathematics at Lynchburg College. Summers and academic year sabbaticals were used to take additional graduate work in both mathematics and computer science at several universities across the country. Over the years, I have taught most of the courses that are offered in a college undergraduate mathematics program and served as department chairman 15+ years. College teaching has been a wonderful career and I would not change any of it, but I have always wanted to connect with the earth. I enjoy the mental challenges that college teaching offers but physical work and toiling in the soil appeals to me as well. Therefore what began as a hobby, propagating plants and working outside often times on a tractor, became a small business in 1982-83 as English Boxwoods of Virginia was born. Jean and I have two wonderful daughters, two great sons in law, and five fabulous grandchildren. The older boys are also beginning to enjoy the tractors and working outside.

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